Milwaukee City Council Bans Bird Scooters

Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin by population, boasting just under 600,000 people – that’s a lot of people for the ice-cold state of Wisconsin, by the way. Nestled away in the far southeastern corner of Wisconsin, Milwaukee is home to the National Basketball Association’s Milwaukee Bucks organization, Major League Baseball’s very own Milwaukee Brewers, the lesser-known American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals – this league isn’t to be confused with the National Hockey League, the fourth of the big four sports organizations in the United States – and the Major Arena Soccer League’s Milwaukee Wave.

The city’s government is made up of – just like every other government worth its salt in the developed world – tens of agencies and bureaus, one of which is called the Milwaukee Common Council.

The Milwaukee Common Council is a government bureau operating within the City of Milwaukee that is responsible for setting rules, guidelines, and laws throughout the city. This lawmaking organization is made up of one representative from each of its 15 districts. Believe it or not, the Milwaukee Common Council is actually a pretty big deal; at one point in time – no more than two or three decades ago – members of the Wisconsin State Assembly would have rather been on the Milwaukee Common Council.

Here’s where Bird comes in – wait, what kind of bird? A bird bird?

In early 2017, a former high-ranking executive among the likes of Uber and Lyft – Travis VanderZanden – created Bird without any help. Just earlier this year, Bird managed to haul in a whopping $15 million in its Series A round of financing; the budding company then attracted some $100 million in a Series B round the following month – Series A took place in February 2018, whereas Series B happened in March 2018.

Sequoia Capital then forked over $150 million, officially making Bird a unicorn!

Back to the council of Grumpy McGrumpyson and friends

The Milwaukee Common Council has sought to impound all Bird scooters across the city. On Tuesday, July 31, 2018, the group largely approved a city ordinance by which Bird would have to pay a cool $100 for every single scooter that the city impounded.

Residents will not be fined for riding given they do so in a responsible manner.

Steven has over 10 years of experience in business management most of which has been on the PR front. Because of his flair for writing, Steven decided to bring together a team of like-minded individuals and founded Live Newspaper.